On July 19, the Georgia Organics Farm to School and Farmer Services teams partnered with Global Growers to host a food safety training for approximately 15 farmers in Burke County, GA. The farmers received information about various food safety topics including:

tips for maintaining a clean facility

hand washing techniques and overall sanitation

instructions for testing water and soil for pesticides and pathogens

USDA guidelines

food contamination avoidance

safe post-harvest handling and storage

on-farm record keeping and tracking

growing food that can be sold to Burke County Schools

Attendees also participated in a raffle to win prizes provided by Georgia Organics. Kim Booth of The Boothe’s Backyard won the grand prize – a brand spanking new utility tub! The farmers in attendance gave Georgia Organics staff great feedback about their training experience.

Farmer Feedback Highlights:

“The training is a refresher for me more than anything. I think it’s good that they’re doing this so people who don’t know about keeping their processing and facilities sanitized can be informed.” – Ryan Pressley, Farms2U

“This training was a great networking resource and a great opportunity to expose me to Georgia Organics staff and programs.” – Linda Newton, Ogeechee Peaches Fruit and Vegetables

Burke County Schools Early Head Start/Wellness/Farm to School Dietitian Kara LeClair was integral in partnering with Georgia Organics to bring the Farmer

Safety training to Burke County. “We want to support our local farmers in any way we can and that includes not only purchasing from them, but doing what we can to ensure that the food they provide us with is safe for our students,” says LeClair. Georgia Organics Farmer Services Director Michael Wall was especially pleased with the training’s impact. “Over the past year Georgia Organics has heavily invested in training staff on important topics, such as food safety and national organic standards, and now we’re passing everything we can on to our farmers. It feels like we’re hitting a really good stride these days,” says Wall. Georgia Organics is especially committed to supporting farmers through food safety trainings and will continue hosting safety presentations in the future.